JR S.

I placed my first order from you, with the intention of buying just one tree. There was, however, a promotion that if you spent above a certain amount of $ ( i believe it was $229 or something like that) we would receive a FREE 1 Quart Red Japanese Maple. This promotion worked as of course you hoped it would -- I spent an additional $95 that I had not intended to spend (on top of the $140 I spent on the tree) in order to get this bonus.

When the order arrived - there was no red maple. I sent an email to *******@fast-growing-trees.com inquiring about the missing item, and i got no response. Today I called to ask what happen, and I was told on the phone that the offer was only while supplies lasted, and the reason I did not receive the bonus tree was because the inventory was gone.

I understand offers like this, and I understand there are some times when there are reasons (such as limited supplies) when a company can not make good on the promotion. What is surprising and disappointing is the fact that there was no communication about this -- no email, note in the packaging, response to my inquiry, etc. explaining why this order was not fulfilled. Additionally, there was no gesture that would have been SO easy for you to make -- perhaps sending something else as a bonus, or sending a voucher for a future purchase, or even sending a coupon to "make up" for not being able to deliver on the promised promotion.

I would not have spent the additional $95 on items i truly didn't even need if I had not been enticed by this promotional offer. The fact that there was not even an effort to acknowledge the inability to deliver on the promotion is bad business, and in fact feels even a bit deceptive.

The final straw was when I called to inquire, and the customer service representative explained the situation, and basically just gave me a "yeah, it's too bad, you're just out of luck" message. I gave him every opportunity to figure out a way to apologize and to "make it up" to me (again, I don't have insane or unreasonable expectations, I would have been placated with even just a discount code to be used on a future product, which frankly would have been even better business for you because it likely would have enticed me into making a future purchase).

At this point I will not make a purchase from your shop again, and I hope you reconsider the way you handle promotions going forward -- if you can't deliver on an offer or promise, it's basic courtesy to respond with an acknowledgement, and some sort of effort to make up for this. I feel duped that I spent an extra almost $100 because of this promotion, and I am surprised there was not even a basic attempt to acknowledge or apologize (other than the lame acknowledgement when i went out of my way to call customer service).